Before the game — and indeed, just after it — the lasting impression was of Paris Saint-Germain’s running.
The French league leaders covered more distance than the Premier League table-toppers across the 120 minutes and while that metric isn’t statistically important when deciding football matches, it felt significant that PSG outran Liverpool. It is impossible to imagine that a couple of years ago, when Liverpool were renowned for heavy metal football and PSG for taking defensive responsibilities lightly.
And when Desire Doue stroked home the winning penalty in the 4-1 shootout success after the tie ended 1-1, it was notable that PSG’s players ran — not to each other, but to the fans. This is a new PSG, unified between the supporters in the stands and the players on the pitch. And, indeed, between the players in attack and the players in defence. “This season, the star is the team,” said the club’s owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi afterwards. “If you ask me who is the best player today, I don’t know — all of them.” Football, he seems to have realised, is a team sport.
A couple of years ago, PSG were divided. Supporters were booing and jeering Lionel Messi and Neymar, two of the greatest talents of this century. Kylian Mbappe did not always fare much better. PSG routinely ended up in something of a 7-0-3 formation when they lost possession, which did not prove problematic in Ligue 1 but constantly cost them in the Champions League against strong opposition.
PSG’s players rush towards their goalkeeper after the shootout (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
This is a very different side, with a very different vibe. PSG’s attackers play with more hunger and less ego. Even their new expensive signing, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, sprinted backwards and stormed into a tackle towards the end of the first half, then celebrated it. But their key men are now in midfield. The experienced Fabian Ruiz was one of Spain’s outstanding performers in their victorious Euro 2024 campaign but at PSG, he brings physicality more than anything else, since Vitinha is a holding midfielder of extraordinary composure, while Joao Neves brings a rare blend of close control and energy. Liverpool’s midfield, so formidable in the Premier League, was often overrun across the two legs.
Still, PSG needed penalties to progress. “The first game belonged to Alisson, the second belonged to (Gianluigi) Donnarumma,” PSG head coach Luis Enrique concisely summarised afterwards. Ironically, Donnarumma is almost a hangover of the old PSG superstars in that he is excellent at his basic job description — saving shots — but doesn’t contribute too much to the team’s all-round play.
At Anfield, particularly in the first half, his kicking was wretched, constantly knocking the ball out of play and putting his team under pressure, but few in Europe save shots as impressively. He brought back memories of Euro 2020, when he was the hero in shootout wins in the semi-final over Spain and then in the final against England. The 26-year-old again made two crucial saves on English soil. In the celebrations, Luis Enrique leapt into his arms.
Luis Enrique, incidentally, was on the wrong side of Donnarumma’s brilliance at a European Championship four years ago, as Spain’s manager. In many ways, that Spain team feels similar to his PSG. It was a side that lacked the superstars of old but, in build-up play and midfield guile, it was probably the best in the competition.
The only thing holding Spain back was a lack of efficiency in the final third and that may yet prove PSG’s undoing. They should have arrived in Liverpool ahead in the tie after the first leg in Paris and could probably have scored more than once in the second leg. Across 210 minutes, their only goal was when Ousmane Dembele was presented with an empty net, thanks to Ibrahima Konate’s attempted clearance. Still, they created plenty of chances.
Donnarumma saves Curtis Jones’ spot kick – after keeping out Darwin Nunez’s effort (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Having finally won over their own supporters, PSG may yet win over neutrals. PSG have been difficult to love over the last decade, but they have been responsible for two thrilling matches across this tie. Even Liverpool’s defeated captain Virgil van Dijk felt compelled to acknowledge it was “a great game of football” in his post-match interview, and his head coach Arne Slot went further.
“It’s the best game of football I’ve been involved in,” said Slot. “It was two teams on an incredible level, an incredible intensity… if you have to lose, then go out the way we played against one of the best sides in Europe. I hope everyone around the world was hoping that this game would keep on going, because it was incredible.”
Next up will probably be a meeting against Aston Villa, if they see out their tie against Club Brugge. Villa are managed by Unai Emery, who was PSG’s manager when they famously collapsed in 2017 against Barcelona, then managed by Luis Enrique. PSG were not top-heavy and reliant on superstars in the Emery era, but they were not capable of controlling matches like this side either.
In previous years, an overwhelming number of neutrals would have wanted Villa to win. Maybe they still will — PSG are, as Slot pointed out afterwards, still one of the richest clubs in Europe and Villa, for all their history in this competition, are outsiders. But people will be tuning in to watch PSG, and hoping they can put on a show — not through individual magic, but through slick passing and selfless interplay.
“We’ve shown what sort of team we are,” said Luis Enrique in his post-match press conference. “It’s a team that goes out to play its own football, regardless of where we were playing, never giving up attacking, always taking the game to them.”
(Top photo: Luis Enrique with Donnarumma after the shootout success. Alex Pantling – UEFA via Getty Images)
